May 2017 - Riding for Phelan

I’d like you to meet Phelan. I mean I really wish you could. When I was asked for advice about a small charity ride around the Isle of Wight, to raise money for a little chap who had been suffering with cancer. I really didn’t know how much the experience would affect me, but I’m so glad I offered to help. 

It wasn’t till the day of the ride that I met Phelan. He was a lovely little lad with a cheeky grin and a huge heart.  I’d already met his Dad who had learned to ride to join the challenge that these work colleagues had set themselves - riding round the Isle of Wight, raising money for some extra treatment. On that day, I met him his lovely family and a group of very determined cyclists. 

I had offered to ride with the back group - inexperienced riders who needed to really pace themselves if we were going to make it all the way. One of those was Phelans dad - George - a most determined chap, who despite all his family was going through was determined to learn to ride his bike and then ride as much of the island as he could. We had been out for a couple of test rides before hand, but nothing quite prepared us for what was waiting for us across the water 

It was an early start but there was a definite buzz in the air as we waited to board. 

The journey from Southampton to Cowes takes about an hour and during that time, we received numerous questions, encouraging comments and donations - there and then, no questions asked just a set of very generous people, all with their own reasons for heading to the Island, taking time out of their day and money out of their pocket to help a little lad with sparkling eyes to live a little longer. 

Fighting with emotion and excitement, we returned to our bikes ready to gather for the group photograph. 

We knew we were the slow group. It isn’t bother us. We were given a head start and it really didn’t take us too long to get to our first stop  - Ryde. We were also overtaken by all the other groups by the time we got there. We didn’t mind though - our challenge was not to be the fastest, but just to have the determination and resilience to get round. 

I was purposefully keeping the pace slow and the spirits high to help us reach our goal. 

As the hours and the miles passed, we got progressively more tired. We had  a huge boost at the lunch meet point in Ventnor. Where many of the others had waited to cheer us in before continuing on their slightly faster journey. We were especially happy Knowing we had conquered one of the major hills already. 

We were making good time and I was pleased that we had only lost a couple of the riders to the support vehicle. 

We finished lunch and headed back out. But by the time we reached Military road (undulating is not a strong enough term for the hills here) our party had reduced down to three. 

Two of Steve’s work colleagues and me. We were flagging in the heat and the girls exhausted riding their mountain bikes. Their fat tyres were no advantage on this trip. 

There was surprisingly little traffic on the roads that day. But I spotted ahead a very slow  moving vehicle with its hazards going. I wondered what was going on. We soon caught up this party which consisted of the van, and three men, two walking with buckets. The third, an ex marine named Swasie was pushing himself with his one leg in his standard issue wheelchair from Firestation to firestation raising huge amounts of money as he went. 

We exchanged details, stories, hugs and tears. Then with our spirits and enthusiasm renewed continued on our own fund raising mission. 

We made it to the Needles. Paused for some refreshment and then enveloped within the rest of the peloton we rode back to Cowes. 

With a huge cheer on the chain ferry we realised that our journey was now complete. We had looped the IOW. 

I was so so touched when Phelan presented me with my medal for completing the ride around the island - all of which was to help him with medicine to keep him alive


 

Sadly, Phelan passed away within the year of completing that challenge, so the following year we rode again. This time to raise money for the place that had cared for him and his family in that sad sad time. And so the Blue Ninja Challenge was born. Blue was Phelans favourite colour. And Ninja the name he was called at home. 

We have been to Naomi house a couple of times now and every time I am amazed by the buzz of the place. Everyone who works there is just so positive and their aim is always to make the most of every day for the children because every day is precious. 

I’ve now done a number of  challenging rides, but not one even begins to match the challenge that many of the people spending time at Naomi house face every day. 

They don’t ask for a lot, but money doesn’t go far at all. £20 will help pay for a nurse of an hour, £10 would buy craft stuff for a child to work with. 

We have ridden every year since then. We will be riding for them again soon so please do consider helping this great cause. Any amount would be gratefully received. 

If you wish to find out more about this amazing place please take a wander through their website and take a look at a video or two. https://www.naomihouse.org.uk/about-us

30th June 2018 - Cycling UK's '100 Women in Cycling 2018' - A proud day!

I don't know how often you check all your inboxes. I do check mine regularly - probably too regularly. But, it is often a cursory glance to check Ive not been asked to do something urgent for work. So though I would probably have seen this arrive, I did not take in its contacts till quite late in the evening.

Dear Sharon, 

We are delighted to tell you that you have been nominated for our 100 women in cycling list 2018!

I had to read it a couple of times to actually take in what it meant. I had been invited to an event up in Manchester to recognise the achievement of 100 women cyclists for their work in advancing womens cycling. 

It didn't tell me who had nominated me or why exactly I had been nominated. Instead they asked permission to use a photo of me and invited me to attend the event. 

So how do I get to Manchester early on a Saturday during term time? I needed to go chat to my boss. 

They were 100% happy for me to go, and allowed me to take time owing to travel on the Firday. I contacted Breeze HQ and was invited for a tour of the offices and the velodrome and hopefully to meet the other couple of Breeze Champs who had also been nominated.

We left home early Friday morning and made it to Manchester in really good time - so we grabbed a spot of lunch in the company of a couple of GB cycle coaches before heading round for the tour. 

The velodrome was stunning - the unique indoor pump track next door was mind blowing and the guys at Breeze HQ were amazing. 

We reached our room for the night, parked up and walked up the main road into Manchester centre. Not knowing the area, we hadn't realised that we had chosen the perfect location, right next door to the most amazing dedicated cycle lane in the city. 

We found food, checked out the location of the event the next day then walked the 15 min walk back to the hotel. 

Saturday arrived, and I still didn't quite know what to expect. I rode to the venue, took my bike inside and nervously looked out for anyone else in Breeze red. 

A group of us started chatting, sharing ideas and information - which I have to say continued for much of the day (between the timetabled events of course) We sat through some really interesting talks, then one by one were called up to receive a beautiful rosette. By this point I had been chatting to Joy and Aggie for much of the day - we couldn't resist a quick selfie on the podium. Both ladies had amazing stories to tell, I was completely in awe with imposter syndrome in full swing! 

 

Lunch was served, the final talk given and we were then taken off on a cycle tour of the city, showing us the best of its rich history of the suffragette movement. 

I learned so much that day and felt proud to represent Breeze and the efforts we have all gone to to make cycling more accessible to women. 

The weekend perfectly coincided with Manchesters Lets ride City event on the Sunday where I again was able to represent Breeze and British cycling as I cycled round its city route taking to everyone who would listen about Breeze. A perfect weekend. 

June 2020 - TLC during lockdown 4

The return of the rear mech. 

I mentioned in a previous post that I was a bit gutted that the bike shop had fitted my rear mech as I was really hoping to give it a go myself. 

Well as it happens, they happened to have fitted the wrong one. They had used a mech designed for 8 gears rather than the 9 that mine has. This doesn’t sound too important, unless you a. Have an idea what that part does and b. Know that the reason you started changing bits was because the gears just kept jumping. 

So which bit is it and what does it do? 

The rear mech is basically a couple of cogs held on a moving hanger that he held in place by a big spring and a wire attached to the gear shift changers. As you loosen the wire, the spring moves the gogs away from the wheel. The wire is released by a specific amount each time you click the gears. So with everything lined up perfectly, the cogs allow the chain that’s running over them move onto the different sized cogs of the cassette attached to the back wheel. 

Lining them up to allow the chain to move perfectly between the cogs is called indexing. 

The mech I was given was working better than the one that had been removed, but I didn’t want to hit any issues that might be caused by a possible incompatable system (and possibly more of a driver - I wanted everything to match) I decided to change the mech. 

This was actually fairly easy (and again explained much better than I ever could in a Park tool video.) While I was at it, I replaced the hanger too. 

This is a small piece of softer metal that attaches between the frame and the rear mech. It is designed to be the weak link in the system - if the mech gets hit, the cheap hanger will bend and can be replaced rather than a costly repair or replace of the frame. 

Once I had everything back together I had to index the gears - this involved tightening or loosening the cable to get the cogs in just the right place to change gear. It was a lot like tuning a guitar. Not tight enough, it wouldn’t make the next cog, too tight and it would jump two. But after a while of fiddling, we hit a Goldilocks position. 

Finally it was out for a test ride. 

To my relief, it worked. But that’s a bit of an understatement really. It not only worked. It honestly feels like a new bike. I will leave you with a quote from the comments on one of the Parktool videos, which I wish I had written myself as I can echo with its sentiment ‘I would perform open heart surgery if Calvin had done a video and talked me through it.’ 

So apart from the bike feeling so much better to ride - what have I gained from this experience. A few more tools in my toolbox - both the physical one and the skills bag we all possess. But most importantly I have so much more confidence that I can sort a mechanical issue with my bike. I know there will be times I will need to hand it over to the experts, but the basic stuff is much easier than I thought. Now I just need to keep practicing! 

June 2020 - TLC during lockdown 3

Its all done - but it wasn’t as easy as it could have been. I’m not going to go into all the details - there are some excellent how to videos on You tube that will explain so much better than I ever could. But I’m writing this to show that it can be done - by someone with little experience and not the greatest of strength. But as you will read later - it wasn’t all plain sailing. I hit a snag. 

Ok so everything was going really well - I started by removing the pedals - had to check which way each went (lefty loosey doesn’t work for me at the best of times and it definitely doesn’t work for one of the pedals as it goes the opposite to the other) - the best tip I was given worked for whichever pedal you were undoing - Put the spanner (or in my case an Alan key)  on the pedal in the 12 o’clock position then turn it towards the back of the bike. I did label the pedals with masking tape just to make my day easier too. 

Once the pedals were off, it was time to remove the cranks. Non driving first. There was a cap which unscrewed with an Alan key - that was easy. Then I needed to use a crank puller tool to remove the crank from the spindle (check me out with these fancy names). 

The non drive side came away quite easily - giving me more confidence that I could do this. (I was carefully storing each bit that came off in order in case I just had to put it all back on again) 

Onto the drive side. The cap came out easily enough, but I just couldn’t get the crank puller to move. 

Time to give up? 

Find someone stronger? 

Na! 

After a check that I was turning the right way (the pedals had got me doubting) I went and found some assistance. My preferred option was to use a pipe over the tool and use the law of moments to help me. But, I didn’t have a pipe to hand. Instead I found a rubber mallet which gave enough force to ge the thing moving. 

And now I could see the bottom bracket and the realisation hit - I had the tool to fit the new one, but didn’t have the tool to remove this. 

So what now. Even if I ordered one on express delivery, I couldn’t move on till tomorrow. I didn’t want to hand the bike over to a bike shop - that would defeat the whole object. 

Montys Bike Hub to the rescue. 

I had been chatting to one of the chaps at the local ‘Bike kitchen’ abouty plans and he had kindly offered their tools if I needed any. I messaged to see if his offer stood. He responded really quick so off I went with bike frame and new bits in hand. 

I was a little worried that the usual would happen - girl walks into bike shop (*replace with any area of vague expertise) Man in shop goes into ‘girl in distress mode’, the words “Leave it with me Love” inevitably get muttered and the job is wisked away without you ever having the chance to learn anything. But no - with huge credit to Montys - I was shown where to set up. Was given the tool I needed. The guys were on hand if I needed it, but were more than happy to let me crack on. What a breath of fresh air!!!! 

I didn’t take any pics while there apart from that missing tool. 

They offered for me to stay and do the rest of the job there - in case I needed any advice. I took them up on their kind offer - I cleaned the shell (the bit of the frame the bracket sits in) which took a fair bit of time. Apparently you accumulate a lot of mess while riding 6000 miles. (Though I’m sure I’ve had a bracket replaced before now) 

The new style bracket was really easy to fit - drive side first - nice direction indicators telling me which way to tighten  and the correct torque setting too. The non drive side next - again that went in so easily and the bracket was a perfect fit. 

The new crankset was different to the old (hence the need for a different type of bottom bracket) It’s a two piece with the spindle attached to the drive side. A quick check on the official Shimano website by the chaps showed which side  the spacers went. Again everything was shown and explained to me in a completely non patronising way then I was left to it. For their own piece of mind I think, the chaps checked my work then I was back on my way with the satisfaction that I had done the job myself. 

I can’t thank those guys at Montys enough. Go check out their website - they do a fantastic job refitting bikes and getting them into the community. 

Montys Bike Hub

So in the voice of Sesame Street - this repair was brought to you by Montys bike hub and Park tool videos

Next stop - The rear derailleur and the fun of indexing! 

June 2020 - TLC during Lockdown 2

I’m not sure whether I am excited or scared right now. This has just arrived and I am now worried that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. 

I decided I needed to change the front cogs (chainset) as they were looking very worn. 

But, some things are never as easy as they sound. 

If I wanted to change the chainset, it looks like I have to change the bottom bracket too. 

So having ordered the parts once. Panicked. 

Cancelled the order. 

Then reordered a couple of days later.

I now have a set of bike bits looking at me waiting to be fixed. 

I will try to keep you posted as I go along. 

June 2020 - TLC during lockdown 1

This is my bike, well one of them. It is a Liv Invite, sometimes known as Invi for short, but more often referred to as 'the pink one’ 

We’ve been on over 6000 miles together, including Ride London last year. She’s been brilliant, but is now showing her age. 

She would usually be going to the bike shop right now, to get a service and some TLC, but due to a small thing that has changed the shape of day to day life, the bike shops are a little busy with fixing Key workers bikes and building new ones - but let’s not go into that one. 

Having chatted to a few friends, I decided that changing the chain wasn’t going to be beyond me - so hit the online shop (my only option at the time) and ordered some bits. 

New chain - Tick. 

I then decided to tackle the really poor indexing. Was it the cassette? This was getting scary! 

So after finding some excellent video tutorials, I ordered a new one and the tools to fit it too.

But it was still jumping. 

After guidance from more video tutorials - I realised part of the problem was the mech hanger was bent. 

So back to the online shop for more tools. (These arrived much quicker than the new hanger which I had also ordered just in case.)

That wasn’t as hard as I thought. So tried indexing again. It was still jumping, but better than before. I gave in and took a trip to the local bike shop (LBS) 

The chap was great. Though he was really busy, he took the time to change the gear cable - which was not easy by any means. 

He also fitted a new rear mech for me. I have to say I was a little gutted about that as I really fancied giving it a go myself - what is going on? I don’t usually want to mess with things - but this was becoming fun. 

But... the mech is the wrong one. The LBS was great - they didn’t have the right one and couldn’t get hold of one, so gave me my money back and said to keep using the mech till I could source another. So I looked. I found and I ordered. 

Stage 1 of TLC complete.